Storms

An individual can get struck by lightning inside a house; while not all buildings have metal-work interweaved in the framing, houses that do contain metal in the framing act as Faraday cages, protecting their contents from electric fields. Houses without metal frameworks are not shielded from electricity.

A:Thunder comes from the rapid movement of air in a lightning bolt. Due of the speed at which lightning bolts travel, the surrounding air does not have enough time to expand. This compressed air creates a shock wave similar to an explosion, causing thunder.

A:It is unknown how large and strong a tornado can get. As of 2013, the strongest wind speed recorded in a tornado was 318 mph in 1999 Moore, Oklahoma, by Doppler on Wheels (DOW), and the widest tornado on record occurred on May 31, 2013, near El Reno, Oklahoma.

A:Using the Enhanced Fujita (EF) scale, a tornado can have wind speeds of more than 200 miles per hour. The EF scale categorizes tornadoes based on the extent of damage they cause and are not actual wind speed measurements.

A:Thunderstorms need three elements in order to form. One of these elements is moisture. The second element is rapidly rising, warm and unstable air. The third element is lifting, commonly produced from fronts and mountains.

A:A tropical storm forms when calm, warm ocean waters warm the air above the surface, creating a convection current. Over time, this current draws moisture and warmth into the upper levels of the atmosphere, creating the rotational engine that drives a tropical storm or hurricane. The longer a storm stays in areas of the ocean with favorable conditions, the stronger it will grow.

A:According to Accuweather, for a snowstorm to be classified a blizzard, it needs winds of at least 35 miles per hour, and blowing or falling snow must reduce visibility to less than a quarter of a mile. If the storm sustains these features for at least three hours, it is officially categorized as a blizzard.

A:An individual can get struck by lightning inside a house; while not all buildings have metal-work interweaved in the framing, houses that do contain metal in the framing act as Faraday cages, protecting their contents from electric fields. Houses without metal frameworks are not shielded from electricity.

A:Tornadoes happen when warm, moist air masses and cold, dry air masses collide to cause large thunderstorms. Not all thunderstorms produce tornadoes, and scientists are not certain which factors are directly responsible for their formation. They do know that in many cases, horizontal spinning movements in the air can be lifted vertically. Once vertical, its base may span up to three miles from one side to the other.

A:Typhoons form in the tropical oceans when areas of high pressure rush toward areas of low pressure, which creates wind. When the storm begins to rotate and organize around an "eye" of low pressure, it is well on its way to becoming a typhoon. Storms are categorized as typhoons when they reach wind speeds of 74 miles per hour.

A:The most tornado-prone area in the United States is called "Tornado Alley," which is generally understood to include Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. Tornado Alley stretches up through the Midwest to Ontario. Southern Illinois, Missouri, western Kentucky, western Tennessee, the lower Ohio valley and northern Mississippi are also prone to tornadoes. The United States experiences the most tornadoes of any country, and it is followed closely by Canada.

A:According to infoplease, tornadoes can cause very minimal damage, such as ripping siding off of homes, to catastrophic damage, which can literally lift homes off their foundations. The type and severity of tornadoes are classified using the Fujita scale. On this scale, tornadoes are rated from F0 to F5, with F5 being the most dangerous and deadly.

A:Thunder and lightning are not the same phenomenon, though both are caused by the same event. As a cloud equalizes its electric charge with the ground, the current must pass through a column of air. Air is not a perfect conductor of electricity, so some of the energy is lost to heat as the charge travels downward. An observer experiences this visually as lightning and audibly as thunder.

A:Tornado season varies depending on location, but most tornadoes appear during April, May and June. In the United States, southeastern regions tend to suffer the most tornado activity from February to April, while incidences of tornadoes in the northern Plains increase during the months of June through August.

A:Ice storms form when air layers stacked in a specific way deliver supercooled liquid water that freezes on contact with cold objects. Business Insider notes that ice storms start when clouds release snow. The snow melts while passing through a lower, warmer layer of air. The melted raindrops fall into another layer of air below freezing temperature, but they do not actually freeze until they impact a solid object.

A:Hurricane season in the Bahamas officially lasts from June 1 to November 30. However, hurricanes are largely unpredictable and happen sporadically in the Bahamas. While rare, hurricanes before June and after November do take place.

A:According to NASA, the primary method of categorizing hurricanes is by sustained wind speed. When a tropical disturbance forms, it may grow into a tropical depression, tropical storm or a hurricane, depending on how strong its winds become. If a storm reaches hurricane strength, meteorologists may place it in one of five categories depending on its wind speeds. A storm's categorization may change many times during its lifespan.

A:One of the worst tornado disasters in the United States occurred in 1925 across three states, killing 695 individuals in Illinois, Missouri and Indiana. Although damage from a tornado is usually less than 1600 feet wide and contact with the ground lasts only a few minutes, this tornado stayed on the ground the longest and left the longest path of damage of any recorded tornado in the United States.

A:Floods can occur in any area of the world that experiences rainfall, but areas with many bodies of water are at a higher risk. Flooding can also occur when excessive rainfall hits land that is dry. The flood occurs because the land cannot take in all of the water.

A:According to the Weather Channel, the worst thunderstorm in the U.S. in terms of cost took place on May 5, 1995 in Fort Worth, Texas. Hail damage alone was over $2 billion, not counting wind or rain damages. Prior to this, only hurricanes had damage figures in the billions.